Dear Shaded Viewers,
To kick off New York Fashion Week last night, the Stella McCartney store hosted a party for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The quasi-militant group has stepped up their actions this season, including a demonstration yesterday in front of the offices of Donna Karan. Operating under a legal sound permit issued from the NY Police Department, PETA members blasted the recorded sounds of “screaming bunnies” that were presumably being killed so they could be turned into cozy and chic coats and accessories. Clever idea but my all-time favorite PETA zap was years ago when a member stormed into a gala fashion industry dinner and threw a dead raccoon on Anna Wintour’s plate. Without missing a beat, Anna quipped, “This isn’t what I ordered.”
What a joy to see Lady Bunny in the sequin-encrusted flesh again. I’ve known Bunny since back when the Earth was still cooling, but lately my contact with her has been relegated to exchanges on her raunchy and politically fueled FaceBook wall. One of the best things about seeing her in person is if you want her to screech, you don’t have to kill her like the fur-coat-bound bunnies–you can just poke her with a stick or show her a photo of Sarah Palin.
New York fashion week fixture Lauren Ezersky and me. Lauren was one of the many guests who was having major leather/suede anxiety at the party. We non-PETA members all knew it would be an enormous faux pas to wear fur to the party, but none of us were really sure if we’d get blood thrown on us if we wore leather. Nevertheless, I forged ahead with my suede and patent leather Lanvin sneakers and Lauren arrived decked out in a haute rendition of a Hell’s Angel leather vest (and requisite fake fur.)
Tim Gunn of Project Runway fame was one of the party’s hosts.
Moni & Marc Benecke
French actress Liliane Montevecchi
ASVOFF’s Jason Last
Jeremy Kost was playing around in the Kid’s section of the store. Jeremy has a book of his photos of drag queens, transsexuals, et al coming out this spring published by PowerHouse. We’re all looking forward to it!
My date for the evening, the lovely Joselle Yokogawa purposely left her credit cards at home to stop herself from going on a Stella shopping binge.
Bunny–here dancing ecstatically–helped me try out a feature of my brand-new camera, a “Sports” setting for taking pictures of fast action that prevents the subject from getting blurry–of course it didn’t help that she made me put Vaseline on the lens!
Ciao,
Glenn Belverio
